Summary of Item:In this unit, ESL students at Sannam High School, an all girls high school in Cheongju, South Korea, engaged in project-based learning to design and present a new dream school to other teachers at the school. They investigated different types of school, brainstormed problems and solutions to those problems at Sannam High School, surveyed other students for their input on the school's problems, and incorporated their research results to design a new school. Then, students learned about the elements of persuasion and used pathos, logos, and ethos to write a presentation to convince other Sannam High School teachers to vote for their school. This unit uses a combination of Communicative Language Teaching, Cooperative Learning, and Project-Based Learning to accomplish Common Core objectives for English. Rationale for Inclusion:This unit is an excellent demonstration of how I integrate multiple teaching methodologies into one lesson. It also shows how I involved the school community in the students' learning. Unit Plan:
Photos and Other Evidence:Reflection:During this lesson, I found that some of my lower-level students struggled with putting their thoughts into English and understanding some of the concepts presented, such as persuasion. Also, a few of the activities, such as the gallery walk and the group writing tasks, were not as effective as I would have liked them to be. Some students did not participate as much as I wanted.
In the future, I can fix many of the problems I faced during this lesson by providing additional scaffolding and differentiation for the lower-level students. I was worried at the beginning of this unit that other students in the class, as well as class activities, might exclude the student with Down syndrome. So, I first asked the special education teacher for some tips on getting her more involved, and for clues as to with which students in my class she works best. The information she provided me helped me to place into a supportive team that helped include her in all tasks. I allowed the group to communicate with her in Korean, as her English level is very low (she knows only some basic vocabulary words). I also paired her with a higher-level student who would translate her response into English during various speaking activities. Doing so kept her involved and engaged in the lesson. I was proud at the end of the unit when she described different parts of the new school drawn on the poster - in English!
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Katherine Welch
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